The Lion King lesson

We were fortunate enough to see the Lion King [at Monte Casino] this week. WOW! I was totally blown away. I have never really seen anything like that and I have seen a few theatre productions. It would be great if every South African was fortunate enough to see it.

We took our daughter (who is under 10) and she was very well behaved. She sat as quite as a mouse, captivated. Sadly the experience had a kak lesson and confirmed my assumptions about how truly bad some parents are.

Let me first say that, I believe, in this uncaring, dangerous world there are 2 very important things you now need to teach your children [along with everything else] caring for others and giving. This counteracts the external messages of ‘its all about me’ and ‘take, take, take’ that are surreptitiously lurking in every corner, especially in advertising and the celebrity 'role models' that kids grow up with today.

During the show, there were children that were talking loud, jumping on their seats, and in some cases standing and knocking the seats in front of them. At R375 per ticket that is a little more than annoying! Take a guess what all three sets of parents were doing…. Nothing. Not even once did I see one of the parents turn their head to reprimand their children. They have become so good at ignoring and ‘switching off’ that they do it with ease in these situations, this whilst the rest of us are left to be irritated by their children. Manners seem to be the last thing they are taught.
I ended up actually telling a little girl behind me to keep quite, which I didn’t particularly enjoy, but she was virtually shouting at her grandmother whilst her mother sat idly by enjoying the show.

What is happening in this world?… what are people breeding? It is pretty scary to watch and I must say this kind of thing does bother me, especially since I am teaching my daughter to be caring and giving. I just hope this ‘lot’ don’t end up hurting her! I hope I am not the one that has got this all wrong and in fact I should be teaching my child to 'protect herself from the world'!
In reality, there is simply no way I would be able to teach [even if subconsciously] my daughter this kind of 'new age' behaviour…..I think someone should start a 'children with manners club' to remind parents of what they were taught as children…..! I am sure there are kids out there that are caring, giving and have manners, but by the looks of things, they almost extinct!